Podcast: Players, dates and recruiting battles to know as Miami prepares for busy summer
After almost 15 months, it’s finally time for a real Miami Hurricanes recruiting season to begin.
The COVID-19 pandemic meant a nearly 15-month dead period and one of the most unusual recruiting cycles in recent history and Miami managed to thrive in it with a top-15 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports.com, and a rare level of success at keeping South Florida talent home.
This new recruiting cycle will be strange, too. After prospects in the Class of 2021 rushed to make commitments throughout the spring because they knew they probably wouldn’t be able to take any visits, players in the Class of 2022 are mostly waiting until the protracted dead period ends Tuesday. June, July and August are shaping up for a flurry of commitments like never before and the Eye on the U podcast is here to set the stage.
David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, talk through where the Hurricanes stand and what’s coming next in June.
Even though Miami only has two commits so far in its 2022 recruiting class, there’s no need to panic. Everyone is working with small recruiting classes right now and expecting June to be a month to start really adding.
Another reason there’s no need for the Hurricanes to panic: Only three blue-chip recruits from the Miami metropolitan area have made oral commitments so far and none were major targets for the Hurricanes. Miami will be working with a fresh slate once it starts bringing recruits down to Coral Gables for a cookout Tuesday, official visits throughout June and Paradise Camp later in the month.
It means the Hurricanes still have a chance at five-star prospects, like Miami Gardens Monsignor Pace defensive lineman Shemar Stewart and Bradenton IMG Academy safety Kamari Wilson, and still can make a run at most of the Florida’s best linebackers, cornerbacks, edge rushers and anyone else at a major position of need.
On this episode, we give you the names to know — like Stewart, Wilson, Miami Central linebacker Wesley Bissainthe and Plantation American Heritage cornerback Earl Little Jr. — but we also give you all the context around the Hurricanes’ current recruiting situation, how loosening COVID guidelines could affect Miami and why this class may not have the same local flavor as the 2021 haul.
